I Became a Food Developer in Another World

Chapter 21: These are indeed beans (3)

In a past life, I remember living in my grandmother’s house as a child due to poverty.

My grandmother was an old-fashioned woman who used briquettes instead of a boiler, and she made tofu at home instead of buying it from the store.

I grew up looking over her shoulder, so even though I couldn’t cook, I knew how to make tofu.

‘I never thought I’d make it myself.’

I had never thought of making tofu before, but when I received a request from the food department, ‘tofu’ was what came to my mind naturally.

Tofu is a typical Korean food that is indispensable for vegetarians.

The recipe for tofu is surprisingly simple.

Just grind the soaked soybeans, squeeze them through a cotton cloth, add water seasoned with salt and vinegar, and you’ll end up with a thick, fluffy, pure tofu.

If you add perilla oil, you can bring out a more savory yet light flavor.

If you use it as is, it’s pure tofu, but if you squeeze out the water and shape it, it becomes tofu.

The process was simple, but I needed a lot of help from Laura to make it.

I had only made it a few times while helping my grandmother and even that was in my previous life.

Luckily, Laura was able to compensate for my lack of experience, and I was able to make pure tofu without much difficulty.

Making the stew was even simpler.

Stir-fry vegetables, mushrooms, garlic, clams, and chili powder, season with salt and pepper, add water, and simmer.

Finally, the dish is topped with eggs and chives.

Of course, all of this was made possible by Laura’s hands.

She took care of all the details, from choosing the right beans to the oil and vinegar to the recipe for the stew.

And the result was my first original dish that didn’t involve any alchemy.

*

A bowl of soft tofu stew was given to all the elders gathered in the meeting hall.

“You can eat it with the eggs I have distributed.”

Elves eat eggs, too.

Of course, only ‘unfertilized eggs’, not live ‘fertilized eggs’.

“I see.”

The elders cracked the egg and crumbled it over the soft tofu stew.

The delicious yolk floated to the top of the bubbling stew and cooked quickly.

“What is this white pudding made of?”

Heindel showed curiosity after seeing the freshly made soft tofu.

“It’s made from soybeans.”

“Beans?”

Heindel blinked.

“Didn’t you say those patties were also made from soybeans?”

“That’s right, they’re both made from soy.”

“…Does that mean you’re some kind of magical god, making both pudding and meat out of soy?”

“No, I didn’t use magic.”

“Of course not, because it would be impossible to make this with magic.”

Muttering to himself, Heindel moved the spoon.

The spoon gently dug into the pure tofu without any resistance.

He took a bite and his face lit up with surprise.

Heindel’s mouth bursts with admiration as he wordlessly bites into the soft tofu.

“……I’ve never eaten anything so soft in my life. I can’t believe these are beans!”

Like a person seeing a different side of a friend he’s known all his life, Heindel kept muttering “I can’t believe these are soybeans!” over and over again.

And yet he couldn’t stop scooping up the tofu.

“Mmm!”

Closing his eyes, Heindel rolled the tofu around in his mouth, savoring the texture.

Seeing this, the other elders also began to scoop up their own.

“Mmm!”

“Boo, soft.”

“You mean these are real beans?”

The elders’ surprise bordered on horror.

The elves were a bean-based clan.

All the beans they’d eaten over the centuries would have been enough to fill a small village.

But even with all the beans they’d eaten, they hadn’t realized that beans were such a soft grain.

The soft texture of tofu was a “culture shock” for the elves, like discovering the newspaper.

However, the spicy flavor of the stew was also a challenge for the elves, and the elders broke out in a cold sweat.

“Ha, ha, it’s spicy, but I think it’s good.”

“I could eat this for a hundred years.”

Of course, the spiciness was pleasant.

‘I’m suddenly hungry.’

Despite having eaten, the sight of the elves enjoying their meal was working up an appetite that hadn’t been there before.

“I’m sorry, we’re enjoying your food too much in front of your guests.”

Heindel looked at the elders, who had buried their heads in their bowls of sundried tofu, and made an embarrassed face.

“This is the first time we’ve tasted such delicious food, so I hope you’ll understand.”

“Of course, it makes me feel good to know you’re enjoying it.”

I wasn’t being polite, I was being sincere.

I had many fond memories of soft tofu.

It was a strange and gratifying experience for me to realize that elves from other worlds enjoyed it with admiration.

I felt like my children were being praised but it wasn’t enough.

“Would you like to try it with rice?”

“You mean rice?”

“It would go well with the stew.”

Unlike the empire, which didn’t grow rice due to its lack of productivity, rice was a grain often consumed by elves.

From what I’ve heard, it’s not in the form of white rice, but ground and eaten like porridge.

Heindel wondered why I mentioned rice but then he nodded.

“I see, it’s a good match, I’ll try it.”

“Can I have some, too?”

“I would appreciate it if you could have some too.”

“Please.”

As if they had been listening to the conversation, the elders reacted like ghosts at the mention of food.

I knew this would happen, so outside, Laura was waiting with a pot of rice on the stove.

“Ms. Laura, you may come in.”

As I finished speaking, Laura came in with a pot of rice.

She walks over with the pot in her hand, her flesh like a cotton bat.

Beside her, Aria came in, carrying bowls to match the number of elders.

“I’ll open it, Nya.”

Steam billowed from the lid of the pot, revealing a fine, delicious white rice.

“It’s called white rice.”

“I think it’s delicious.”

“This is how they make rice.”

The elders’ mouths watered at the sight of the glossy white rice.

They looked like children with dinner in front of them.

‘No, they are children.’

I looked at Heindel.

I couldn’t tell how old he was, but judging by his appearance, he looked younger than me.

The best way to describe him was that he was a freshman in high school, just starting his summer vacation.

To be honest, it was difficult for me as a viewer to get used to the way he said things like, “I see, that’s right.”

The other elves, though not as young as Heindel, also looked to be in their late teens to mid-twenties but an elder was an elder.

“I’ll take it.”

“I’ll take it, too.”

“Ugh!”

The bowls of rice that Aria had been shoveling flew up and into the elders’ hands but a closer look revealed that the bowls were being held by transparent six-year-olds.

The children took on various appearances, from fire to water to wind and earth.

‘Those are spirits.’

Never having seen spirits before, I stared at them in wonder.

“Thank you, Sylphie.”

“Thank you, April, as always.”

The elders treated the spirits who brought the rice bowls as if they were friends.

From the outside, it looked a little odd, like they were forcing children to labor.

“You can eat it with the soup.”

“Okay.”

Heindel scooped up a large spoonful of rice and dipped it into the red broth, then topped it with soft tofu and brought it to his mouth.

“Mmmm!”

A pleasant smile crossed Heindel’s face. It was echoed by the other elders who scooped up their meals.

“Oh, my, this is what it tastes like.”

“It feels like the children who left home are coming back.”

They each expressed their impressions and played with their spoons in silence.

“Sylphie, could you bring us another bowl?”

“Gnome, please.”

The spirits eagerly scooped up the rice, and the pot jar was soon empty.

The elders put down their cutlery only after emptying their bowls of rice and stewed tofu down to the last drop of broth.

“Hua, thank you.”

“This is the most delicious meal of my life.”

The elders leaned back in their chairs with satisfied expressions, enjoying the satiety of their meal.

“Did you like the meal?”

“Of course.”

Heindel nodded, his face gracious.

The other elders nodded as well.

They were so impressed with what they had eaten today that they would never forget it.

Heindel, meanwhile, shook his head as Yuri handed him the paper.

“Take it.”

“What is this?”

“It’s a way to enjoy your patties and tofu.”

“!”

There’s another way to enjoy tofu?

He took the paper in amazement and found a recipe he’d never seen before.

===

▶How to make a hamburger

Bread

Tomato

Onion

BeansX2

Vegetables

Pickles

Lots of sauce

Bread

===

“Hamburger?

Heindel was puzzled by the unfamiliar name, but it didn’t seem difficult to make.

The elves had their own bread and sauce, after all.

‘And a back chapter.’

Heindel turned the paper over, realizing that the recipe was written on the other side in faint script and he was at a loss for words.

===

▶How to make stewed tofu

How to make tofu pancakes

How to Make Tofu Soup

How to make tofu egg soup

▶Tofu……

Author – Yuri Grail

Advisor – Laura

“Hey, what the heck……”

“I didn’t know what you might like, so I wrote down a few things off the top of my head.”

“……What do you mean, a few things?”

Heindel rolled his eyes in disbelief.

For the first time in his life, he realized that one ingredient could produce such an endless number of recipes.

*

Word spread through elven society.

Young elves who had left their homes returned to the forest.

They were excited at the mention of ‘forest meat’.

The idea of tasting meat was unthinkable in the conservative elven society.

After all, forest meat was not real meat.

It was a fake, made from ‘beans’ that mimicked meat.

So yes, there was no way to eat meat in the forest.

The elves, who had been hoping for real meat, were greatly disappointed but unlike their disappointment that it wasn’t real meat, the “meat of the forest” was surprisingly edible.

“These are beans?”

“That’s not bad.”

The young elves’ reactions were favorable.

It wasn’t meat, but it was more like ‘beans mixed with meat’.

“Amazing, how did they make beans taste like meat?”

“The first time you eat it, you might mistake it for real meat.”

The elves were thrilled that the food of their homeland had evolved but that didn’t mean that meat-mixed beans were a substitute for real meat.

The “vegan patty” might have attracted young elves to the forest, but it couldn’t keep them.

Meat-like meant it wasn’t meat, after all but this reaction changed 180 degrees the moment they ate the tofu.

“What, what, what is this?!”

“…soybeans are this soft?”

Tofu was the kind of texture they had never experienced before in their lives.

And it was “soy”?

They couldn’t believe it but the elves’ surprises were just beginning.

As they tasted a variety of dishes using tofu and patties, they were left speechless.

“I must return to the forest now. I’ve been away too long.”

“I’m going to catch up on some house cleaning.”

“I must return, I’m worried about my mother……”

The elves who had left the forest began to return.

*

Hermann was a mercenary who made his living killing on commission.

He was currently lost and wandering through the forest.

“Damn, if only Irina was here……!”

Irina was an elf who was in his party.

Being a forest race, he never had to worry about getting lost in the forest as long as she was there.

But one day, Irina suddenly decided she had to go home and left the party, and was never heard from again.

The party encountered a monster in the forest, got lost, and scattered.

Hermann had been lost in the forest for three days now.

With no food or water, Hermann was growing tired of the endless forest.

It was at this point that he realized he would die if he continued on like this.

“…Huh?”

Suddenly, something strange caught his attention.

‘Smoke?’

Smoke was rising from the forest.

‘People!’

Hermann’s mind raced, and he ran to the source of the smoke with all his remaining strength; however what awaited him was not a person, but a peculiarly shaped house made of wood.

Smoke was rising from its chimney and an appetizing smell wafted from the house.

He snorted.

It was strange to find a house in the middle of the forest, but Hermann was hungry, so he opened the door and entered.

Perhaps she was preparing a meal but an elven woman set a bowl of food down on the table and looked up at him.

“Who are you?”

“I’m ……I need something to eat.”

“Well, come here and sit down!”

The elf woman, taken aback by Hermann’s lanky appearance, quickly sat him down at the table.

Hermann was too scared to sit down, so he gobbled up the food on the table.

He frantically shoveled food into his mouth, not knowing what he was eating, and when he was full, he realized that he had been rude but there was something even more surprising.

Hermann’s eyes widened as he looked at the food on the table.

There was some sort of white pudding, cooked in many different ways.

The problem was that they tasted ridiculously good.

“What are these, what are they?”

“They’re tofu.”

“……Tofu? Is that what all elves eat?”

“Yes, we’ve only recently started eating it.”

“Well, thank you so much for giving me a delicious meal on such short notice.”

“You’re welcome, and I’m glad to be able to help humans.”

Thanks to Yuri, elven society had recently become much more accepting of humans.

The elven woman’s kindness was a reflection of that.

“You can have as much as you want.”

“…Hmph, thanks then.”

Coughing, Hermann picked up the spoon and tasted the tofu.

As he ate, he could clearly taste the flavors, unlike when he was eating in a frenzy and he realized how crazy this tofu was.

‘This is crazy!’

The hot, freshly made tofu with a firm texture melted in his mouth.

As he ate the glossy white rice and red stew, Hermann realized that the stories about the elves’ diet being tasteless were unfounded.

The elves were the race that made the most delicious food on this continent!

“I ate really well.”

From then on, Hermann was able to get out of the forest with the help of the elves.

He wrote a book about his mysterious experiences in the Elven Forest.

[A Feast of Fairies, A Taste of Heavenly Cuisine]

A month after Hermann’s book was published, rumors of the existence of a heavenly dish called “tofu” in the Elven Forest spread throughout the Empire.